NYPD Officer Keith Winchell was chasing a recklessly driven motorcycle through The Bronx in 2007 when he paralyzed after being T-boned by another vehicle. On August 1st, Officer Winchell was promoted to detective.

NY Post reported that Detective Winchell said, “I always laugh; I say I didn’t get blown up in the desert but I get hit by a car in the Bronx. I don’t remember anything [about the accident],” he continued. “I just remember waking up in the ambulance and seeing a white light and one of the [EMTs]. He didn’t look like Jesus, so I figured I was in an ambulance.”

Detective Winchell spent two years rehabilitating at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine with the goal of going back to his job in law enforcement.

“As soon as I woke up, I said I don’t want to retire,” he said. “I love the job. It’s all I’ve done my whole life, I’ve had a uniform on. I wanted to stay.”

Detective Winchell was paralyzed from the waist-down, and needs a wheelchair to get around. After he was able to return to work, he was assigned to administrative duties. Detective Winchell also counsels other injured and traumatized police officers.

“It also helps me,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for nine years. I always need somebody to talk to. Just because you’re a mentor doesn’t mean you don’t have things you have to deal with, too. I don’t have all the answers.”

Even though Detective Winchell has to use a wheelchair, he is focused on remaining independent.

“I don’t have handles on the back so people can’t push me,” he said. “That’s my whole attitude. I push myself.”

Detective Keith Winchell is a hero who hasn’t let anything stop him from serving his community and his fellow officers.

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